Orange Blaze: A Florida Trail Podcast

This is a bit of a different episode, one from my gardening podcast, The Garden Path Podcast. You are probably already familiar with Valerie Anderson as she has been on the Orange Blaze Podcast before to talk about the plight of Split Oak Forest near Orlando. I had Valerie on my garden podcast to talk about the Florida Native Plant Society and thought it would be relevant to many Florida Trail hikers and wanted to share the episode here. I’ve left the original introduction to the podcast so you’ll hear that episode straight through…now. Thanks for listening!

Today's episode features the Florida Madcaps, a trio of Florida outdoor enthusiasts some of you may already know: Chris and Chelsey Stevens of the Sunshine State Seekers and Ryan Worthington the Florida Excursionist. Chris and Chelsey have already been on the Orange Blaze podcast before, in February 2019 and May 2020, but this is the first time I’ve gotten to speak with Ryan. Chris, Chelsey, and Ryan recently launched the Florida Madcaps podcast, a recreation and conversation podcast about Florida’s outdoors. I for one am so glad they had the idea to do this podcast because it was a niche that needed to be filled! Florida is full of wonderful public green spaces for residents to explore but the trio offer a unique point of view on the subjects they cover, from conservation to education and even the environmental activism required to keep these lands open for public use. We had a great conversation and I really hope it will lead you to add the Florida Madcaps to your podcast feed! Alright, onto my conversation with Chris, Chelsey, and Ryan.

Hello hikers! I have a fun and different episode than usual—this is the book club episode I mentioned in my last set of episodes released. I chose Life and Death on the Loxahatchee by James Snyder for the book club and several folks reached out to say they were interested in having a zoom book club discussion about it! My guests in the conversation are David Magness, Paul Arsenault, and Leslie McConachie. All bring interesting insight and viewpoints to the book discussion and I was delighted they were interested in chatting with me! Since this is the first time I’ve had so many people on the podcast I wasn’t quite as used to juggling different conversations and people talking over each other at the beginning so there are some areas that were too difficult to edit where one person started chatting while another also chimed in. I think there was also some lag with everyone’s internet connections in who could hear who when it came time to chime into the conversation. It’s a little messy in a few spots is what I’m trying to say! Hopefully I’ll get better at managing it in the future! Now, if you didn’t get a chance to read the book, I suggest listening to the author interview first. But if you enjoy spoilers and wild speculation without having read the book, then go forth and listen to this episode!

Late last year I decided to start a book club for the podcast and chose Life and Death on the Loxahatchee, for a few reasons, one of them being that it had been sitting on my bookshelf for far too long and I knew I needed to read it. Another, because of the interesting folk history of the area along the Loxahatchee River, an area that the Ocean to Lake Trail traverses and an area that many Florida Trail hikers explore, particularly in the Jonathan Dickinson State Park area. But who was Trapper Nelson? I had read the book but I wanted to talk to the author himself, to find out why he was curious enough to devote the time to write about the mysterious man who lived for decades along the Loxahatchee River, and to hear his own thoughts about the man behind the legend. If you didn’t get a chance to read the book but wanted to listen go the book club discussion, I think this is an excellent episode to jump in and get an idea of who Trapper Nelson was and maybe it will entice you to pick up the book to read yourself, or any of the other many historical books Mr. Snyder has written as well.

Eleni McDaniel was first on the podcast back in March of 2019 and a lot has changed in the four years since then. She’s changed trail names for one and expanded her career and hiking life beyond Florida, though as you’ll hear her ties to the Florida Trail still reel her back into the state every Florida Trail hiking season. I love chatting with Eleni, not just because we are friends but because she’s someone I can talk about the hard aspects of hiking with, the uncomfortable truths we all need to face on the trail. We talk about the growing pains the Florida Trail is experiencing as well as Eleni’s hiking adventures in North Carolina and New York in recent years and her hiking ambitions for the future.

Day hikers make up the bulk of hikers on the Florida Trail, just like on other National Scenic Trails. I think we all tend to focus heavily on thru-hikers for these trails because of their epic nature and the way long distance hiking intrigues a lot of us, but the day hikers are the ones getting to know certain localities of a trail in a more intimate manner. They are out there for quick weekend jaunts or short overnights, often becoming familiar with trail maintenance and feeling a sense of pride in their local trailheads. I would love to start showcasing more Florida Trail Day hikers on the podcast and David Magness was a great person to start propel that idea forward! We had a great conversation about his hiking adventures in Central Florida and I think you’ll enjoy our conversation. Also, stay on at the end of the podcast for a special bit of music that David created and mentions in our conversation.

New this season is the Orange Blaze Podcast Book Club! Our first book will be Life and Death on the Loxahatchee: The Story of Trapper Nelson. If you have spent any time around Jonathan Dickinson State Park or the Loxahatchee River you may already know the legend and lore of Trapper Nelson. I've had this book on my shelf for years and it is about time I read it! Reading along and if you want to participate in a book club discussion email me at orangeblazepodcast at gmail dot com or leave a comment below. I'm looking for 4-6 folks to have a zoom chat with about the book and those who don't want to participate in the zoom chat are welcome to read along on their own and listen to the episode airing in April! We'll have another book club this fall! Book suggestions wanted!

After our 2011 thru-hike I wrote a post on my blog detailing some of the more important notes needed for thru-hikers on the Florida Trail. There wasn't a lot out there at the time on social media, though there were Trail Journals and the books produced by Sandra Friend---there just wasn't the community in 2011 that there it today. That said, I think this episode is long overdue and should have been one of the first episodes I produced when I started the podcast. If you have questions about hiking the FT, I am always here to answer questions and point you in the right direction!

When the Green Tunnel Podcast debuted in late 2021 and I began listening to episodes I quickly realized this was not your average hiking podcast. Mills Kelly and his team at R2 Studios at George Mason University have put together a stunning series of podcast episodes that rival some of the NPR-style podcasts out there. Covering history of the Appalachian Trail from Benton MacKaye to the Roller Coaster section of the trail and everything in between, every few weeks we get to learn in-depth history about the AT we may not have known. Mills and his team dig deep into the archives of the ATC and local trail club chapters to come up with their stories and as you’ll hear Mills say, it is easy to fall down rabbit holes to get new stories.

Jason ‘Out and About’ Tompkins is a 2022 Florida Trail Thru-Hiker and progenitor of a new eastern route called The Carolinian. A Florida native, Jason has spent many years living and exploring regions outside of Florida but returned to Florida in late 2021 to begin a year of thru-hiking. He first kicked off by hiking the Ocean to Lake Trail and getting his legs literally and figuratively wet for the Florida Trail which he started a few weeks later. From the Florida Trail he continued on to many other trails including putting together the Palmetto Trail, a Carolina Road Walk, the Mountains to Sea Trail, the AT, and the Bartram trail to create the 2200 mile Carolinian route. Even with all of that done, Jason wasn’t done, and went off to hike the Superior Hiking Trail, too. It’s been a big year for him!

2023 isn’t going to be any quieter as Jason has plans to complete the Eastern Continental Trail, which includes another thru-hike of the Florida Trail. We talk about the ups and downs of trail life, hiking with a trail family and then hiking completely alone, and his goals for future adventures. I think you’ll love the conversation and Jason is an all around interesting and inviting person to talk to! Maybe you’ll come across him on your own hike this year!